Athletic shoe



y 1950 e. L. PIERCE ET AL 6,5

ATHLETIC SHOE Filed Aug. 21, 1948 A TY'ORNE'YIS Patented May 2, 1950 ATHLETIC SHOE George L. Pierce and Nils H. Thorkelson, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignors to A. G. Spalding & Bros., Inc., Chicopee, Mass, a corporation of Delaware Application August 21, 1948, Serial No. 45,506

4 Claims.

Our invention relates to the art of footwear and particularly to footwear designed for use by athletes, particularly sprinters, jumpers and vaulters. In constructing footwear of this character, it is necessary that the weigth of the material used be kept to a minimum in order to avoid any unnecessary load which would have a tendency to impede the progress of the wearer. In reducing the amount of the material used, the strength of the shoe must, however, be maintained. One method used to minimize weight in shoes of this character is to reduce the foot area covered by the upper. However, after the upper is reduced in height beyond certain limits, it frequently happens that the resulting product is a shoe which lacks theability to maintain itself in proper position on the wearers foot with the result that there is increased danger of the shoe being cast free with serious results on the wearers competitive showing.

Accordingly, it is an object of our invention to provide an athletes shoe which is not only adequately strong and equipped with features for maintaining it firmly in place on the foot of the wearer, but which is also extremely light and flexible.

Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is an elevation of the shoe of our invention shown in position on the wearers foot.

Fig. 2 is a top plan of the shoe of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a bottom plan of the shoe of Fig. 1.

In carrying out our invention, we provide a shoe having a tap sole I preferably of relatively stiff sole leather, and of a suitable size to underlie and protect the toe and ball portions of the wearers foot. Sole I0 is preferably provided with spikes ll attached thereto in the usual manner to insure a secure footing for the wearer. Connected to the sole Ill and extending rearwardly therefrom to a point just forward of the wearers heel is a relatively flexible shank 12 which underlies and protects the instep portion of the foot. The shank is preferably constructed by provid ing a plurality of layers, for example three, of the flexible leather usually used for uppers, and connecting the same by stitching. Upper E3, of soft and flexible material, usually a single thickness of leather is connected at its forward margin to the forward margin of said sole and has its lateral portions connected to the lateral margins of the sole l0 and shank l2 as by stitching. The forward portion M of the upper l3 forms a footembracing vamp which receives the toe and instep portions of the wearers foot. Since uppers for athletic shoes of this character are normally constructed of a fine quality of leather which is not only extremely light, soft and flexible, but is also substantially non-resilient, or non-stretching, the top surface of portion M is arranged to provide the slot 15 to facilitate application of the shoe and provide for snugly conforming the same to the foot of the wearer, suitable closure means for the slot I5 being also provided. As shown in the drawing, the closure means takes the form of the usual eyes 16 and laces [6a. The wearers foot is also protected from the edges of slot l5 and laces 16a by a tongue i! in the usual manner.

The shoe of our invention further includes as a part of the upper l3, shoe positioning and retaining portions l8. The portions 18 are preferably formed as integral extensions of the material which forms the foot-embracing portion l4. As shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing, the portions l8 are relatively wide at their forward ends and taper to narrow bands. The narrow ends of the bands It are connected to form a strip engaging the rear portion of the wearers foot above the heel. In the preferred form, this connection is effected by abutting the ends of portions l8 and stitching the same to a lap member l9.

As shown in the drawing the highest point 20 of the foot-embracing or vamp portion l4 lies substantially midway between the forwardmost tip of sole l0 and the rearward ends of portions 18. When the shoe is fastened in place on the wearers foot, it is imperative that the same be securely maintained in this position against accidental removal. With a shoe proportioned in the manner disclosed and laced to a foot of the proper size, it will be seen that band portions I8 can he slid to a removal position only by pivoting downwardly about point 20, which movement, however, is prevented by the protrusion of a portion of the wearers heel as clearly shown in Fig. 1.

For shoes of this character it is likewise important to provide sufficient strength to withstand the rearward thrust imposed thereon by the normal conditions of use. Specifically the band portions 18 should have sufficient strength to withstand this thrust without objectionable deformation which would permit the wearers foot to have a slight rearward movement within the shoe, for the reason that even a small amount of such movement is capable of changing the position and balance of the shoe to an extent suflicient to affect materially the wearers performr 3 ance. Since the vamp I4, of which the band portions l8 are preferably integral continuations, is normally constructed of soft and flexible material, it is desirable to reinforce the band portions it to some extent, not only with the lap member l9, but also by means of marginal strips 2|. The strips 2! may, and preferably do, consist of margins of the band portions I8 folded back and stitched down. Thus it will be seen that our invention provides an athletes shoe having no heel covering parts, the extension of the shank portion which would normally underlie the heel of the wearer having been entirely omitted together with any heel tap which would normally be attached thereto. Likewise the heel-receiving portions of the upper, located in that area which in conventional footwear would be generally bounded by' the outlines of the counter, have also been omitted. These omissions represent a saving in the weight of the shoe to such an extent that a noticeable improvement in the wearers performance is achieved.

The saving in weight which results from the above-mentioned omissions may be reduced in part if desired, by the described additional strengthening of the retainer forming bands [8, whereby the wearer's foot is held firmly in place without seriously impairing the lightness of the shoe. The described heel opening, furthermore, allows the retainer-forming bands I8 to assume a desirable high position on the foot and to be correspondingly shortened with the result that the possibility of accidental removal of the shoe from the wearers foot is largely precluded.

The shoe of our invention does away entirely with protection for the heel of the wearer, for we have found that in a number of standard athletic events in which competitions are reguularly conducted, particularly sprinting, jumping and vaulting, little if any weight is placed on the heel of the foot so that no protection is, in fact, required. It is in precisely these competitive events, however, that the weight carried by the athlete is of supreme importance, so that by taking these factors into consideration in the construction of our improved shoe, we havepro- 'duced an athletic aid calculated to have a marked effect in the direction of improving the performance of competitiors who engage in events of foot of an athlete without the interposition of anything other than flexible clothing, comprising a front portion including a relatively ,hard

tap sole, and a foot-enclosing upper of soft flexible material attached to said tap sole; an intermediate portion forming a tubular; instep-enclosing extension of said front portion, saidintermediate portion being of flexible non-resilient material throughout and including means for adjustably fixing the tubular circumference thereof; anda rear portion consisting solely of a non-resilient retaining band connected with the rear end of said intermediate portion and designed to engagethe rear portion of the wearers foot above the heel.

2. An athletes shoe comprising a relatively hard sole designed to underlie the toe and ball portions only of a wearers foot, a relatively flexible shank connected to the sole and extending rearwardly therefrom to a point forward of the wearers heel; a soft, non-resilient upper comprising a foot-embracing portion attached to the lateral margins of said sole and shank, and shoe positioning and retaining portions connected with said foot-embracing portion extending rearwardly and tapering to narrow bands whose ends are connected for engaging the rear portion of the foot above the heel.

3. An athletes shoe comprising a relatively hard sole designed to underlie the toe and ball portions of a wearers foot, a relatively flexible shank connected to. the sole and extending rearwardly therefrom beneath the'instep of the foot, and terminating short of thewearers heel; a soft, non-resilient upper comprising a foot-embracing portion attached to the lateral margins of said sole and shank, and shoe positioning and retaining portions connected with said footembracing portion extending rearwardly and tapering to narrow bands whose endes are connected for engaging the rear portion of the foot above the heel, said, retaining portions constituting the sole means for engaging the rear portion of the foot.

4. An athletes shoe comprising a tap sole designed to underlie the toe and ball portions only 7 ends are connected for engaging the rear portion of the foot above the level of the heel.

GEORGE L. PIERCE. NILS H. THORKELSON.

7 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,144,768 Lanzaro June 29, 1915 1,902,521 Rice Mar. 21, 1933 2,155,979 Prondecki' Apr. 25, 1939 2,421,604 Eaton June 3, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 304,565 Great Britain 'J an. 24, 1929 15,223/91 Great Britain Nov. 14, 1891 

